Unlawful restraint still outlawed in America

In the majority ruling on the right of Guantamo prisoners to have their day in court to challenge the legality of their arrest, Kennedy writes:

The Framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom.

I love that statement. To be free, a person cannot be subject to unrightful restraint.

Glen Greenwald expands on the supreme court decision at Salon.

I keep telling people, Aspartame is death

I came across this informed article on the dangers of aspartame. Stop imbibing this poison!

BRAIN CELL DAMAGE FROM
AMINO ACID ISOLATES:

A PRIMARY CONCERN FROM ASPARTAME-BASED
PRODUCTS AND ARTIFICIAL SWEETENING AGENTS

NutraSweet ~ Equal ~ “Sugar Free” ~ Neotame

By James Bowen, M.D.
And
Arthur M. Evangelista, former FDA Investigator
(c) 06 May 2002

FORWARD
This article is an accumulation of long-standing intensive research into the brain chemistry-altering effects of a toxic, artificial sweetener consumed daily by hundreds of millions of unsuspecting individuals. read more

Hillary, not the assassination card! That’s low, even for you.

Dave Winer writes

Her political career is over”
Strike 4. Suggesting she should stay in the race because Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in 1968.

Too much benefit of the doubt. Bringing assassination into political discourse as an “issue” is too much . . . Screwing around with life and death is over the top.

So true, Dave. I found a video clip of Hillary’s comment here. I think she realized as soon as she said it, that she’d gone where no candidate ought to go, but it was done. read more

The world is singing to us [a real song]

. . . scientists now say the planet itself is generating a constant, deep thrum of noise. No mere cacophony, but actually a kind of music, huge, swirling loops of sound, a song so strange you can’t really fathom it, so low it can’t be heard by human ears, chthonic roars churning from the very water and wind and rock themselves, countless notes of varying vibration creating all sorts of curious tonal phrases that bounce around the mountains and spin over the oceans and penetrate the tectonic plates and gurgle in the magma and careen off the clouds and smack into trees and bounce off your ribcage and spin over the surface of the planet in strange circular loops, “like dozens of lazy hurricanes,” as one writer put it. read more

The Wall Tweet Journal and other Twitter phenomena

Twitter enhancers . . .

Tiago Doria tipped me off about The Wall Tweet Journal, giving up to the minute news about the microblogging portal. Tiago also likes to play with TweetLater. Lets him archive his tweets for delivery later. Is that fun, or what?

So, which are the Twitteratii that you follow who also follow you? Just as importantly, who isn’t following? My friend Dossy Shiobara created an app calledTwitter Karma just to give a simple answer this question. Give it a whack.

Twitter Karma

Want to see photographs turned into mosaics using fotos representing Twitter users? Sure you do. Twittermosaic.com. read more

eBay Overwhelm! Coming next to your home?

The link Raymmmondo posted this morning on a local give-away list [like freecycle, but not] brings me to his websitepackratmom.com where he starts off telling his mother’s eBay saga with the phrase, “My mother is insane.” Raymmmondo proves that statement with pictures showing every room in the house where he lives with his mom overflowing – just filled to bursting point – with boxes, paperweights, dead plants, empty bird cages and a few years of saved junk mail. Everything, bought from eBay. read more

“Don’t stop telling the truth”

Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s spiritual mentor, spoke about truth in his eulogy to judge R. Eugene Pincham this past Saturday. Beautiful words.

talking about Pincham’s integrity and honesty, Wright said, “You don’t change who you are because of where you are. You don’t stop telling the truth because it is not politically correct or it makes a racist uncomfortable . . .”

Jump to full Sun Times article here.

Obama told the truth. Thanks, Hillary, for pointing that out to us.

On Twitter Dave Winer mentioned that Obama was calling Pennsylvanians’ – and the nation’s – attention to the fact that it’s true that rural American people are angry and bitter as a result of patiently waiting 25 years for politicians they elect to stop selling them out and help them get their lives and their jobs back. I guess Obama became one of my heroes twice this weekend, because he told a really uncomfortable truth about American politics and refused to back off it. Then he admitted he was wrong for having made a poor choice of words when he originally made the statement. read more

Hillary lashes out and covers up, way too often.

Carl Bernstein wrote a book about Hillary Clinton, and this week he published an article about her presidential campaign. Below are a couple of paragraphs from the article. It’s well worth reading.

It happens that Mark Penn, the campaign manager Hillary recently fired, is the brother of a guy who was my physician for a long time. Deane Penn retired from practice maybe two years ago, but for many years I knew him as a thoroughly decent person, a committed activist in the Jewish community and an excellent doctor. Dr. Penn always referred to his brother’s work as one of the nation’s major pollsters, with great pride. read more

Send email/sms or make to-do list by calling Jott

How’s this for cool?

Send an email or sms with a phone call:

First, register as a user on the Jott website. Make a phone call to (866) JOTT-123 [(866) 568-8123].

Select a recipient. If you want to send a message to yourself, say, “Me.” Speak words, wait for next prompt, hang up.

To send a message to someone else, enter that person’s email address in your Jott contacts area. You can also upload your entire contact database. If your recipient has an email address on file in your contact list she’ll get an email. If you entered a phone number instead she’ll get an sms message. read more

You too can have a Gravatar

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

Get your Gravatar here.

Seton Hall Law files immigrant abuse suit against Feds

Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice and Lowenstein Sandler, PC, filed suit today in federal court, alleging that federal law enforcement officials violated the ten victims’ constitutional privacy and due process rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments by entering their homes without consent or a judicial warrant during pre-dawn “raids”.

. . . immigration agents forced their way into each plaintiff’s home in the early hours of the morning without a judicial warrant or the occupants’ consent. Most of the plaintiffs were awakened by loud pounding on their doors and answered the door, fearing an emergency. ICE agents subsequently either lied about their identity or purpose to gain entry, or simply shoved their way into the home. During each raid the agents swept through the house and, displaying guns, rounded up all the residents for questioning. In some cases they ordered children out of their beds, shouted obscenities, shoved guns into residents’ chests, and forbade detained individuals from calling their lawyers. In at least half the raids, the officers purported to be searching for a person who did not even live at the address raided. read more

Why delete NJ’s Farm Bureau?

Governor Corzine wants to delete the state’s Department of Agriculture. The role of the Department of Environmental Protection – which would be the new liaison for farmers under Corzine’s plan – doesn’t include caring for the needs of farms and farmers. But NJ is The Garden State! We need our farms, and what’s more, without them NJ will quickly turn into a cultural desert of mini-McMansions and strip malls. What a waste!

Robert Von Thun Jr., who grows vegetables, fruit and flowers on his South Brunswick farm, said farmers understand the need to streamline state government, but contends the Agriculture Department already runs efficiently. read more

Singulair linked to suicide, depression

Since last October, Singulair allergy and asthma medication labels have warned that the drug is linked to, “suicidal thinking and behaviour.” The Wall Street Journal reports:

Singulair, made by Merck & Co., is approved to treat asthma and allergy symptoms such as sneezing and stuffy noses, as well as to prevent exercise-induced asthma. The FDA said in a so-called early communication that it is reviewing postmarketing reports of behavior and mood changes, suicidal thoughts and actions, and actual suicides by patients who took Singulair. The regulator also asked Merck to look at its own database for signs of trouble. read more